Family Picnic
by GBscientist
Summary: Sam and family take Mikaela to the picnic of the family company.
1. Chapter 1

Family Picnic

Disclaimer: Transformers is property of Takara-Tomy and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing it.

* * *

"Ron, you have to wear the shirt," Mikaela could hear Judy chastising Ron.

"I know, I know. I just hate that nickname," Ron said before closing the door to his room. A couple of minutes later, Ron and Judy came down the stairs. Each was wearing a green golf shirt with white collar and cuffs and their names embroidered in white thread. The exception was that Ron's had 'Buster' written below his name.

"Sam, get a move on!" Judy shouted. Sam barreled down the stairs moments later. The name on his shirt was 'Little Sammy', but the shirt was a couple of sizes too small. Mikaela was slightly impressed by the way it outline Sam's abs (which he had been working on since his flight from Megatron), but it was obvious that Judy was not from the scowl on her face. "Sam, the new shirt your Grandfather sent over is right here on the coffee table. Why aren't you wearing it?"

"Oh, is it?" Sam asked, trying to look innocent.

"Put it on, hot shot," Ron said as he threw Sam the shirt. "If I have to wear this stupid thing, so do you." Sam sighed and started to pull his undersized golf shirt off, but Judy stopped him.

"For goodness sake, have some modesty, Sam. Go use the downstairs bathroom and make is snappy!" Sam pulled his shirt back down and hustled to the bathroom. Moments later he had his new shirt on, which fit much better, and had the name 'Sam' embroidered on it, with 'Ladies' Man' just below. Mikaela snickered.

"Alright, everybody into the cars," Ron announced. "You can take Mojo." Ron and Judy got into his classic green Porsche while Same and Mikaela piled into Bumblebee, with Mojo jumping excitedly into the back seat. Bumblebee squirmed unhappily at having the dog inside of him.

Bumblebee let Sam have control as they drove to the lake. Between two trees had been hung a banner that read 'Witwicky Sparkplugs Company Picknick'. Mikaela gasped.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I didn't realize you were one of _those_ Witwickys," Mikaela explained.

"How many other families did you think there were with the name Witwicky in Tranquility?"

"I guess I just never put it together. We haven't really been dating that long," Mikaela stammered.

"Welcome to my perfect little life," Sam said as he pulled into a parking next to Ron. They leashed Mojo and got out of the car. "We'll just be hanging around here for today, Bumblebee. I hope that isn't too dull for you."

"_I like to watch, I like to watch you bounce, bounce,_" Bumblebee sang.

"Uh, right. Okay, see you later." Sam said while Mikaela made a little wave to the Autobot. Then the couple headed for a big open-air tent set up by the lakeside where Ron and Judy already were. Several other people wore the same style of green shirt as Sam, while everyone else wore nametag stickers.

"Well look at you!" a portly woman called out to Sam as he and Mikaela approached the sign-in table. "You look wonderful, Sammy,"

"Thanks, Doris," Sam said.

"Now who's this lovely young lady?" Doris asked from her seat behind the table as she picked up a clipboard.

"I'm Mikaela. Mikaela Banes," Mikaela replied.

"Hmm. Banes, Banes, Banes. Ah, here you are. Welcome to the picnic, Mikaela. Have a wonderful time," Doris said as she handed Mikaela a nametag sticker and a Sharpie marker to write her name on it with. "You have a good time too, 'Ladies' Man'."

"Thanks," Sam said with a grimace. Mikaela finished filling out the sticker and put it on. "Okay, now we go introduce you to the extended family," Sam said as they walked away from the table and headed for the knot of green-shirted people. Mikaela nodded in agreement and steeled herself for a long round of introductions.

"Sammy!" A man in his early 40's called out when he caught sight of Sam. The man's green shirt had the names 'Stephen' and 'Spike' embroidered on it.

"Hey, Uncle Steve!" Sam replied as he and Mikaela entered the circle of green shirts. Mojo hurried to sniff everyone's ankles. "Everybody, I'd like to introduce my girlfriend, Mikaela Banes." All the individuals Mikaela didn't already know replied with variations of 'Hello'. "This is my uncle, Stephen, his wife, Carly, and their son, Daniel," Sam said as he indicated to his vocal uncle, a blond woman standing next to him, and a 12 year-old hanging in the background. "And this is Grandpa Sam." Grandpa Sam was a man in his mid-70s of much the same build as Ron who was sitting on a picnic bench at one side of the circle. His green shirt had the nickname 'Sparkplug' below the name 'Samuel'.

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Witwicky," Mikaela said as she shook his hand.

"Please, call me Sam," he replied.

"That could get a bit confusing," She replied as she glanced at Sam.

"Right you are," Grandpa Sam laughed. "How about Grandpa?"

"It's a bit early for that," Sam said as he blushed.

"Fine. Sparkplug, then?"

"Sure," Mikaela agreed.

"Good, good. Tell me a bit about yourself, Mikaela," as he indicated for her to take a seat beside him. She sat down and started talking.

"Well, I go to the same high school as Sam and we have a bunch of classes together," Mikaela said.

"Like that's not obvious. There's only one high school in Tranquility," Daniel snarked.

"Danny. Manners." Carly said sternly.

"Sorry," Daniel said and he went back to paying attention to his DS. Mikaela looked back from the boy to Sparkplug and continued her story.

"Sam came to my rescue and drove me home when my former boyfriend and I had a fight over his patronizing me," Mikaela explained. "The jerk wouldn't let me drive his Hummer because he assumed I'd scratch it and called me his 'little bunny'."

"So, I take it that you consider yourself more of an independent woman?" Sparkplug inquired. He wasn't being sexist, but older people have phrases in their vocabularies that just won't go away despite no longer being politically correct.

"Well, I enjoy shopping as much as the next girl, but I'd rather be working on an engine than hanging off somebody's arm."

"Oh really?"

"Um, yeah. So forgive me if I'm a little tongue-tied, but it's pretty exciting to meet you," Mikaela rambled. Sparkplug laughed.

"You know, I've gotten that reaction from everyone from street racers to NASCAR pit crews, to auto industry executives, but never from a pretty girl. Mikaela, you have just made an old man's day." Sparkplug said and Mikaela smiled. "Sammy?"

"Yeah, Grandpa?" Sam answered.

"You hold onto this one."

"I'm trying," Sam said, looking slightly unhappy.

"Now, how about we make this day even better and you show me this new car of yours?"

"Ah, sure."

"Danny, make yourself useful and hold Mojo's leash," Carly said as she took the leash from Sam and handed it to a sour-looking Daniel. Sam lead his grandfather, Ron, and Stephen back up the hill to look at Bumblebee.

"Well, Sammy, you've certainly earned that new nickname," Stephen said as he patted Sam on the back.

"Yeah, about that. Where did you guys come up with that name?" Sam asked.

"Danny said you were using it on the internet," Sparkplug said.

"Oh," Sam replied. He filed that bit of information away for later. They arrived at the car and Sparkplug whistled.

"Now you are going to have to explain to me how you came by this gem," Sparkplug requested.

"Well, you remember that big terrorist attack in Mission City?" Sam asked and Sprakplug and Stephen nodded. "I was there. I had taken Mikaela there for our first official date, 'cause I wanted to impress her, but the whole downtown turned into a war zone. I kinda helped take out the chief badguy, but my car, a '76 Camero that Dad and I went halfers on, got blown up."

"Hold on, you helped take out a terrorist?" Stephen asked. Sam nodded. "Will wonders never cease."

"Anyway, the government wanted to give me a reward. Said they'd pay for college or give me a medal, or something, but I said 'just give me a new Camero' and they took me literally. They actually paid GM to build this for me. It's a prototype of next year's new Camero."

"A-mazing," Sparkplug muttered. The four men stood around admiring the car for a few minutes, then went back down to the tent. When they got there, Mikaela had a question.

"Now, Sam's nickname I understand, but what's with the rest of them?"

"Well, mine comes from the company, obviously," Sparkplug began. "I started out working in a sparkplug factory to make money to pay for college. I came to understand that the reason so many sparkplugs were needed was because they'd get gummed up and stop working. So, in what little spare time I had, I came up with a new sparkplug that would spark hot enough to burn the gum off. The side effect was that a little of the anode would burn off each time it fired, but I eventually got it so that my sparkplugs would work 20% longer than a regular one. I got a patent with the money I had saved for college and started making them by hand. The company grew from there."

"Wow," Mikaela said.

"Now, the design's improved since then. Spike went got his degree in metallurgy and improved the alloy of the anode so it would last longer, and then he brought his buddy, Chip Chase, that guy over in the wheelchair," Sparkplug pointed to a wheelchair bound man in the crowd, "He brought Chip into the company to design electronic fuel injection systems for us."

"Chip's a whiz with computer hardware design and programming. He's even taught Danny a bunch," Stephen said and Daniel nodded. "Your turn, Buster." Ron grimaced.

"I got my nickname because I liked to take things apart, when I was Daniel's age, to see how they worked. The problem was, I could never put them back together right," Ron said dejectedly. "Then I learned what manuals are for."

"He also got his MBA and came to run the financial side of the business," Sparkplug said. "He cut a lot of waste out of our budget and personally turfed anyone on the line that slacked off."

"He is therefore not only the buster of alarm clocks, but also the buster of balls," Stephen laughed as Ron glared at him. "I got my nickname from volleyball in high school. I was one of the good players on the team, and one day Mom came out for a game. During a particularly heated moment in the match, she yelled 'Hit it! Spike!', to tell me to spike the ball, but everyone else thought she was calling me Spike, and the name stuck. Later on, it got revived by my tweaking the anode alloy."

"I don't see the connection," Mikaela said.

"The anode could be considered a spike," Stephen said.

"Ah," Mikaela said, now understanding. "And now Daniel has found Sam a more grown-up nickname than 'Little Sammy'."

"Yeah, but he'll always be our little Sammy," Stephen said as he gave Sam a noogie. "Eew. How much gel did you put in there, Sammy?" Sam just shrugged.

"Ah, Sam, can I talk to you for a little while in private?" Daniel asked.

"Sure, Danny, come on, I'll show you my car," Sam and Daniel walked back to Bumblebee. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"I saw your e-bay page, Sam. You were selling great-great-Grandpa Archibald's stuff. How much money did you make?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing. The auctions expired with no bids," Sam said warily.

"That's too bad."

"Why?"

"Because you need to come up with 100 bucks or I'll tell Grandpa."

"You little rat!" Sam said as he pinned Daniel against Bumblebee's passenger side.

"What you going to do? Hit me?" Daniel asked with a smirk. Sam considered for a moment, then brightened up.

"No, I'm going to make sure your Dad finds out what happened to his engine diagnostic machine," Sam said darkly.

"You wouldn't," Daniel said with a slightly scared look.

"I would. Wiping the memory while trying to install a game was not the smartest thing in the world, Danny."

"It was an accident!"

"Yeah? So why didn't you tell him that?" Sam asked. Just then, the bell rang to indicate that lunch was ready. "Saved by the bell. Don't forget this little chat." Sam released Daniel, who ran back to the tent.

"_Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,_" Bumblebee sang. Sam glared at his car for a moment and then sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Counter-blackmailing Daniel isn't going to solve the problem in the long run."

"_Give the man a prize!_"

"Sam! Dinner!" Judy bellowed.

"Later, Bumblebee," Sam said before loping back down the hill to the tent and whatever disappointment Grandpa Sparkplug would heap upon him when he fessed up.

* * *

Songs: "Hotbox" by Prozac, and "Let there Be Peace" Christian hymn


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Transformers is property of Takara-Tomy and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing it.

* * *

During lunch, Mikaela noticed that Sam was being a lot quieter than normal.

"What's wrong? I've never seen you this quiet," she asked him.

"I have to go admit to Grandpa that I tried to sell great-great-Grandpa Archibald's stuff on e-bay," Sam said after finishing his last bite of hamburger. He then downed the last of his can of cola. "I don't think I'm going to make it out of this alive."

"You mean the glasses and that stuff?" She requested clarification.

"Yeah."

"But that's how the Au… our new friends found us. If you hadn't posted it, the Bad Guys would have gotten the Cube. How can he be mad at you for that?"

"Because I was going to sell family heirlooms. The results don't matter, it's the action itself that I have to apologise for. He's probably going to kill me, so if I haven't mentioned it before, thanks for being a great girlfriend, Mikaela," Sam gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and got up from the picnic table.

"You are the weirdest boy in the world, Sam Witwicky," Mikaela muttered before turning her attention back to her own dinner.

"Grandpa, can I talk to you in private for a minute?" Sam asked when he reached the head of the table.

"Sure, Sammy," Sparkplug said as he rose from the table. The walked a little ways from the tent and put a tree in direct line of sight between them and the rest of the party. "What's on your mind?"

"Grandpa, I put great-great-Grandpa Archibald's stuff up for sale on e-bay."

"Mm-hmm. How much did you get for it?" Sparkplug asked unexpectedly calmly.

"Ah, um, I didn't get any bids on any of it," Sam stammered.

"Sam, that's because heirlooms don't really have much monetary value. That's the difference between and heirloom and an antique. Antiques are worth money, but heirlooms are special because of the memories we associate with them," Sparkplug paused and sighed. "Given that you never knew Grandpa Archibald, I can see where the Legacy didn't mean that much to you. If you really don't want it, I'll keep them for someone that does."

"No, no, no. I've learned some stuff about Grandpa Archibald since then and I want to keep them. I really appreciate what he went through to get to the arctic and back."

"Alright. I'm glad we've got that settled," Sparkplug put his arm around Sam's shoulders and gave him a squeeze. Then he smacked Sam in the head. "But if you ever do something that stupid again, I will smack you so hard you can't see for a week. Then I'll tell your Father. Understood?"

"Yes, Grandpa," Sam said while rubbing his head. The two men walked back to the table and their seats just in time for dessert.

"Well, look who's still alive," Mikaela commented as Sam tore into his slice of cake.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," Sam said with his mouth full. He swallowed and continued. "If that smack had been any harder I'd have a concussion, and then Bumblebee would have come roaring down here to my rescue and our cover would be blown. Then Simmons and his flunkies would come and lock up everybody for the rest of their lives, so I'd be as good as dead."

"That's exaggerating," Mikaela said and smiled. "You know Bumblebee doesn't like you that much." Both teens snickered.

The day wore on and the party broke up. The crew from the rental company came to remove the tent and barbeques. Sparkplug, Ron, and Stephen supervised the crew while Judy and Carly traded gossip. Somebody ordered pizza for dinner, which was delivered to the lake without question. Sam and Mikaela pulled a bag of firewood out of the back of Stephen's van and set up a fire in one of the firepits along the edge of the lake while Daniel went looking for twigs as kindling. Finally, with the clean-up completed, the Witwicky family settled in around the camp fire for some private family time just as the sky faded from twilight to blackness.

"This is nice," Mikaela commented to Sam as she snuggled against him. Daniel was busy lighting his stick-skewered marshmallow on fire.

"Daniel, be careful with that," Carly cautioned.

"Yes, Mom," Daniel replied in a voice that indicated that he had heard the same precautionary instruction a thousand time. "What's that?" Daniel asked as he heard a loud droning.

"Sounds like a plane," Ron said. "But it's flying awfully low." A dark shape crossed above them as the noise peaked. Something separated from the aircraft. It was roughly rectangular in shape and plummeted towards the ground. It glinted black and white in the firelight.

"Oh no, no, no, no!" Sam yelped. "Run, everybody run! We've gotta get out of here!" But no-one paid Sam any attention. Their attention was fixed upon the object, which had unfolded from it's boxy shape (which was obviously a car) into something else. It landed on the ground less than five meters from the Witwickys with a resounding boom.

"Ah, look. It's the whole squishy Witwicky family in one place," a menacing baritone voice came from the object. It's lines were indistinct in the firelight, but it was vaguely man-shaped and about 5 meters tall. It had glowing red eyes.

"_Don't even think about it,_" Bumblebee said from the top of the hill. He had already transformed and was pointing his cannon at Barricade.

"By the time your plasma blast gets to me, I'll reduce these squishies to puree," Barricade warned. "And you might miss. How would you feel if you accidentally incinerated one of these insects, Autoscum?"

Bumblebee lowered his cannon in a look of helpless submission.

"Glad to see you can be reasonable," Barricade chuckled.

"Nobody move," Sam whispered. "If he wanted us dead, he'd have done it by now."

"Like hell," Stephen said as he grabbed a flaming log and charged Barricade. In an eyeblink the Decepticon grabbed Stephen, disarmed him, threw the log in the lake, and threw Stephen back to the group. He landed with a sickening thud and his left arm twisted in the wrong direction at the elbow.

"You're not going to get away with this," Judy shouted at Barricade.

"Ha! Your yellow friend is the only Autobot in a 150 kilometer radius, and your pitiful civilian security forces couldn't even scratch my paint. Now, in return for your continued existence, I want Bumblebug up there to deliver a message for me. I want 400 liters of gasoline and the following items," Barricade transmitted a list to Bumblebee, "delivered to the abandoned gas station south of Tranquility on Route 9 in 48 hours. And for insurance, I want…This one!" Barricade announced as he grabbed Daniel. The boy started to scream, kick, and pound on Barricade's hand.

"Daniel!" Both Stephen and Carly screamed.

"Ah, you squishies and your attachment to your sparklings. It's hilarious," Barricade said as he tossed Daniel into the air, transformed, and caught Daniel in his open trunk, which snapped shut. "Don't try to follow me or the squishy goes squish." Barricade tore off into the night. Sam charged up the hill to Bumblebee, who had already transformed back to car mode.

"We've gotta go after him!" Sam said as he dove inside his Autobot friend.

"_Roger, roger!_" Bumblebee blurted out and took off after Barricade. Then the dark airplane came back into view. This time, there was something dangling from its belly. There was a clang and Bumblebee was abruptly yanked from the road into the sky by what was obviously and electromagnet cabled to the aircraft. The plane flew back to the lake and its engines, which were mounted at the tips of its wings, pivoted upwards so that it could hover.

"What about 'don't follow' don't you get, Autobot?" the V-22 asked. "This is your only warning." The electromagnet disengaged and Bumblebee, and Sam, were dropped into the lake while the V-22 departed.

Bumblebee let out a shriek as he hit the water, and Sam began to panic. The human noticed that despite sinking, no water was getting in.

"Um, Bumblebee, can you just drive us back to the edge of the lake?" Sam asked.

"I'm sorry, Sam, I can't" Bumblebee said in his rarely-used and raspy voice. "Without oxygen, my motor in this form can't run. I'll have to transform to get back to the surface."

"Oh. I guess I should take some deep breaths, then, huh?"

"That would be advisable," Bumblebee agreed.

"Okay, um, can you let enough water in so that you're mostly full? I don't want to get hit by a wave when you open your door."

"I can do that." Water rushed in until only Sam's head was above the surface.

"I'm going to count off with my fingers. When I get to five, open the door," Sam said before taking several slow, deep breaths to get as much oxygen as he could. He started counting down, took one, final, deep breath, and counted off five. Despite having the compartment mostly filled with water, Sam was still knocked across the cabin by the force of the water coming in when Bumblebee opened the door. Quickly regaining his composure, and not letting out his breath, Sam kicked his way out of Bumblebee and swam to the surface. Sam wasn't a strong swimmer, so he was glad that the lake wasn't deep.

"Sam! Sam, where are you?!" Ron shouted. Sam heard the shouts as his head broke water.

"Here!" Sam coughed and sputtered. "I'm okay!" Then he swam back to shore. It wasn't far but it felt like forever to him. Just as he was getting out of the water, he saw Bumblebee's head break the surface. "Over here, Bumblebee!" Sam shouted and the Autobot chirped in the affirmative.

"Sam, I'm so glad you're alright," Judy said as she rushed over to him and wrapped him in a blanket. "You scared me to death."

"So, it looks to me like you know a thing or two about these robot-things," Sparkplug said to Sam.

"Ah, you could say that," Sam said as he coughed the last of the water out of his lungs. Then he got smacked in the back of the head again.

"That's for lying to me about your car," Sparkplug said. Then he smacked Ron in the back of the head. "And that's for letting him lie to me." Both Sam and Ron looked slightly ashamed.

"Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on here?!" Stephen demanded. While Sam had been underwater, Sparkplug had managed to reset his son's elbow and put it in a sling. Sparkplug was obviously a man of many talents. "That car-thing just kidnapped my son, and there was nothing any of you could do to stop him!"

"Um Stephen, if you could just calm down for a second, we can explain everything," Mikaela said. Up until now, she had been standing on the outside of the group. Now they all turned to face her.

"You mean to tell me you're in on this too?!" Carly demanded.

"Well, ah, yeah, I am. That first date to Mission City that Sam said he took me on? We were actually racing away from the bad alien robots, the Decepticons, with an artifact they wanted. That story about the terrorist attack in Mission City was to cover up the giant droid deathmatch that followed us," Mikaela explained.

"Sam, it looks to me like you two, I mean you three," Sparkplug glanced up at Bumblebee, "have a lot of explaining to do. So let's get out of here and you can bring us up to speed on all of this."

"Ah, okay, sure," Sam agreed.

"I assume you've got some sort of radio?" Sparkplug asked Bumblebee. Bumblebee nodded. "And you've used it to call in some friends?" Again Bumblebee nodded. "Good man. Everybody load up. We're going back to my place and the good guy robots can meet us there. Then we'll figure out just how we're going to get Danny back."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Transformers is property of Takara-Tomy and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing it.

* * *

Samual 'Sparkplug' Witwicky owned a small farm on the outskirts of Tranquility where he kept a couple of horses as a hobby. It was more than dark and secluded enough to allow Bumblebee to transform without being noticed when the Witwicky family arrived there at about 10:00pm, but they stayed in the mostly-empty barn for extra cover. It was fair to say that none of them was feeling terribly secure at that moment.

"Well, Sammy, it doesn't look like any of us is in much state to sleep right now," Sparkplug said as he observed the distraught looks on Stephen and Carly's faces, "So why don't you explain how you got involved in all of this?"

"Um, okay, that's fair," Sam said as he looked at his relatives from his seat with Mikaela on one of Bumblebee's outstretched legs. "I just want to be clear: Our family's involvement with the Cybertron..ians," Sam said the word awkwardly because he was making it up on the spot, "Didn't start with me. Great-great-Grandpa Archibald found the big, bad, boss Decepticon buried in the ice at the North Pole."

"So the Ice Man was real?" Sparkplug clarified. "Grandpa Archibald wasn't insane."

"Well, he was, but only because Megatron, that's the boss Decepticon, drove him insane. See, Archibald accidentally set off Megatron's navigation system and it lasered all kinds of Cybertronian stuff into his head. Those were the symbols he kept drawing. The nav system also etched the coordinates of this big cube thing, called the AllSpark, into Archibald's glasses," Sam continued. "So when I put them up on e-bay…"

"You what?!" Ron demanded.

"I, uh, put great-great-Grandpa Archibald's stuff up on e-bay to make some extra money," Sam squaked. "But I couldn't sell any of it, so no harm done right?"

"We'll talk about this later," Ron promised. Sam swallowed uncomfortably.

"Um, anyway, Bumblebee posed as a car at Bobby Bolivia's used car lot to get close to me and the glasses. He saved me an Mikaela from Barricade, the Decepticon that took Daniel, even though I spent all morning running away from him on Mom's bike."

"So that's what happened to my bike," Judy said. Sam swallowed uncomfortably again.

"We met up with the rest of Bumblebee's team later that night, handed over the glasses to the leader of the Autobots, the good robots, and got picked up by some government douche-bags called Sector 7. They dragged me, Mikaela, and Bumblebee off to Hoover Dam, which was actually built to cover up the AllSpark, but they were also keeping Megatron on ice there. A little Decepticon named Frenzy got into the dam, shut down the coolers keeping Megatron frozen and big bad thawed out, so we had to run for it. Will, I mean Captain Lennox said that we should hide the AllSpark in Mission City, so Bumblebee made it shrink down to the size of a football and gave it to me. The Decepticons chased us, and I was like this close," Sam held his hands an inch apart, "to getting skewered by Megatron, so I gave him what he wanted and shoved the AllSpark into his chest. It sort of dissolved into energy and burned a big hole in Megatron's chest and killed him, but I got burns on my hands that still haven't completely healed yet. And running for your life will give you stiff muscles like you wouldn't believe," Sam finished.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Stephen asked.

"After what we've seen so far, Stephen, I think you're going to have to if we're going to get Danny back," Sparkplug cautioned.

"Steve, I know this is a lot to take in, but I've met the other Autobots and they're good guys. They'll get Danny back," Ron assured.

"If you say so," Stephen said quietly.

"That car, Barricade you called him, said he wanted 400 litres of gas and some other stuff, but he never said what the other stuff was," Sparkplug pointed out.

"He transmitted a list of items to me," Bumblebee rasped. "But I have now idea what he could want them for. Ratchet will probably know when he gets here."

"Who's Ratchet?" Carly asked.

"He's their medic," Sam said. "He's also their on-site scientist until someone more qualified arrives."

"Arrives? There are more coming?" Stephen asked.

"Um, yeah. Optimus Prime, their leader, sent out a message calling the rest of the Autobots here. Since they can't fix their planet, they'd like to share ours," Sam said.

"And you're okay with that?!" Stephen demanded. "Alien robot cars infiltrating our planet and running around willy-nilly?"

"Stephen, you're distraught, and I can see where you'd have trouble trusting these folks, but please SHUT UP if you have nothing constructive to add to the conversation!" Sparkplug said. "Now, you said that car's name was Barricade. Who was the helicopter?"

"I believe his alternate mode was actually a V-22 Osprey," Bumblebee corrected. "And I am not certain, but the Decepticon in question was probably Incinerator."

"You've met him before?" Sam asked.

"No. I know him only by reputation. He is an interrogator of some renown and his method of delivering the warning to us was consistent with his modus operandi."

"He usually drops people in lakes?" Mikaela looked for clarification.

"No, he likes to drop his interrogation subjects from a great altitude when he has gotten all the information he wants," Bumblebee said. Sam paled.

"So basically, we're dealing with a pair of raving psychopaths," Ron summarized. Bumblebee nodded.

"Well, I doubt we're going to be able to do much tonight, so we should at least try to get some shut-eye," Sparkplug suggested. "Bumblebee, I've got space in my garage if you'd like to stay there."

"I would prefer to stay here, if I may. I have not been able to stretch out in some time," Bumblebee said.

"Fair enough."

"I'll stay out here with him," Sam announced.

"So will I," Mikaela added.

"Not without a chaperone you won't," Judy said. "Bumblebee's a big Autobot, I'm sure he can handle one night in the barn by himself."

"G'night Bumblebee," Sam said with a shrug as his mother dragged him and Mikaela out of the barn.

* * *

By 6:00am, Judy was up and in the kitchen making breakfast. Stephen and Carly stumbled in a short time later, each demanding coffee. Daniel's parents had each gotten about an hour of light dozing in during the night because their sleep was impeded by worry for their son. Around 6:30am Ron and Sparkplug wandered into the kitchen, both of them looking fairly well rested. It wasn't their son in mortal danger, after all. Finally, about 7:30am, Mikaela and Sam came looking for food. Mikaela was already made up and ready for the day, but Sam looked like he had just rolled out of the bed, which was true. Between the seven of them, the Witwickys and Mikaela wiped out all of the bacon and eggs in Sparkplug's house.

After breakfast, Sam busied himself by trying to clean all of the pond scum off of Bumblebee from the night before. Mikaela helped Judy clean up the kitchen. Ron and Sparkplug started brainstorming ideas about how to rescue Daniel. Carly and Stephen remained aloof, prisoners of their fear. Around 11:00am, everyone's activities were interrupted by the loud honking of an air horn. They rushed to the windows to see a flame-painted semi truck, a black SUV, and a search-and-rescue Hummer pull up to the house, followed by two army trucks full of armed soldiers. One of the soldiers walked up to the house and was about to ring the doorbell when the front door swung open.

"Thanks for getting here so fast, Will," Sam said to Captain Lennox.

"We do what we can," Lennox said with a shrug. "Can you get your family to come out to that barn? We need to conference somewhere that the Autobots can transform."

"Sure thing. We'll be with you in a couple minutes," Sam promised before closing the door and going to round up his family. When the Witwickys got to the barn, the Autobots were already transformed and seated, while Captain Lennox and Sergeant Epps stood between Optimus and Ironhide.

"Stephen Witwicky, Carly Witwicky, I apologize for involving you and your offspring in our conflict," Optimus said. "You have my word that we will do everything possible to recover him undamaged."

"Um, thank you," Carly stammered, obviously caught off-guard by the presence of alien robots even larger than Bumblebee. Stephen just nodded.

"I, uh, think some introductions are in order," Sparkplug said. "You gents have us at a disadvantage."

"Of course," Optimus agreed. "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. This is my weapons specialist, Ironhide," Optimus inclined his head to the former SUV, "And this is our medical officer, Ratchet," Optimus nodded to the transformed Hummer. "And I assume that Sam has introduced Bumblebee already."

"_You betcha!_" Bumblebee chirped.

"Okay, we've got good news and bad news," Lennox said. "Which do you want first?"

"I think we should get the bad news out of the way," Stephen said hesitantly.

"We cannot meet Barricade's demands," Ratchet said bluntly. "Many of the components he demanded in the list he sent to Bumblebee simply do not exist on your planet, and I cannot construct them in the time remaining before the deadline."

"I thought you said you would get Daniel back!" Stephen shouted at Optimus.

"Sir, you didn't let us tell you the good news," Epps attempted to calm Stephen.

"Yeah, so what might that be, genius?" Stephen demanded as he rounded on Epps.

"Barricade is neither a medic nor a scientist. I can construct fakes that will be sufficient to fool him into thinking that we have filled his demands," Ratchet said.

"Oh," Stephen said, rather embarrassed.

"We also have enough firepower to take the slaggers out if they don't hand the boy over," Ironhide spoke up for the first time as his cannons popped out, spun around, and then retracted.

"Force is, of course, our last resort in this situation," Optimus said with a glance at Ironhide. "I believe that subterfuge will be successful."

"Sounds good," Sparkplug stated. "What sort of raw materials do you need to make the dummies? I can get pretty much anything."

"If you could retrieve some sort of cellular telephone or wireless network capable computer, I can transmit a list of the required items," Ratchet replied.

"Here you go," Sam said as he pulled out his cell phone and tossed it to Sparkplug. Ratchet transmitted the list.

"What about the gas? A car Barricade's size can pull a trailer big enough to move that much gasoline," Ron commented.

"From the parts Barricade demanded, I do not believe that he is going to use the gasoline in its native form," Ratchet explained. "If I were able to get the parts Barricade wanted, he would be able to construct a crude energon condenser."

"A who-what with the what-now?" Stephen asked.

"Energon is the fuel that we run on," Optimus said. "Each of us has a small condenser within our frames that allows us to convert readily available chemical fuels to energon. Unfortunately, our internal condensers are only large enough to meet our individual needs. If we were to attempt to refuel a fallen comrade, we would need a large-scale external condenser."

"So, how is crude energon different from normal energon?" Sam asked.

"You misunderstand, Samuel," Ratchet said. "When I said 'crude energon condenser' I meant that the condenser would be inefficient and makeshift, not that the energon produced would be sub-standard."

"Oh."

"With the specifications that I can extrapolate, the energon condenser that Barricade is planning to construct would only be able to make enough energon to refuel one Decepticon from 400 liters of gasoline."

"By refuel, you mean reactivate, don't you," Lennox said.

"Affirmative," Ratchet confirmed.

"Ohhhh, I really don't like the idea of that tank thing or that big helicopter coming back to life," Epps said.

"Neither do we," Optimus agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Transformers is property of Takara-Tomy and Hasbro. I'm just borrowing it.

* * *

Ratchet completed the fake hardware with a little more than an hour left before Barricade's deadline expired. Optimus and Ironhide loaded the fakes into a semi trailer, and Optimus transformed and hooked up to it. A second trailer full of the demanded gasoline was hooked up to Ironhide after he transformed.

"Okay, load up!" Lennox ordered his men. When Stephen and Carly approached one of the army trucks with the intention of boarding, Lennox stepped in front of them. "I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Witwticky, but where we're going is no place for civilians."

"My son is out there in the hands of some demented alien robot. I'm damned well going to make sure he gets turned over safely," Stephen declared.

"Perhaps I can propose a compromise," Ratchet suggested as he knelt down beside the quarreling humans. "It will be my duty to get Daniel away from the combat zone as soon as we have made the exchange. Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky may ride with me and I will keep them out of harm's way."

"I'm okay with that," Lennox agreed. He knew better than to argue with Ratchet's ability to protect the Witwickys.

"We'll do it. We'll stay with you, Ratchet," Carly agreed on her and Stephen's behalf.

"If they get to go, we get to go too, right Bumblebee?" Sam asked.

"_Stay… Hold the fort_," Bumblebee said with a shake of his head.

"What do you mean?" Mikaela asked.

"I won't risk Sam and your safety unnecessarily, Mikaela," Optimus' voice rumbled out from his truck form. "You, Sam, and Sam's parents will remain here with Bumblebee as a rear guard in case the Decepticons attempt to hit the farm while we are gone."

"Well, if we're the rearguard, can we have a couple of those grenade launchers?" Ron asked.

"That's fair," Lennox said as he tossed two M32 six-shot grenade launchers to Ron and Sparkplug, and then a box of extra rounds to Sam. "Those are 40mm magnesium-tipped sabot rounds. They'll kill a Decepticon if you hit a weak spot, and they'll do damage even if you hit an armoured spot. Just don't miss because you don't have a lot of ammo."

"Got it," Sparkplug said.

"If that is all?" Optimus asked and got nods from everyone. "Autobots, let's roll out!"

* * *

The gas station on Route 9 was overgrown with weeds and grass. A single dead tree stood between the roof over the derelict gas pumps and the road. The Autobots pulled up, but remained in vehicle form while the human soldiers made a firing line behind them. Barricade and a second Decepticon stepped out from behind the gas station. The unfamiliar 'con was light grey with three massive blades for fingers. A large Gatling gun protruded from his chest and missile pods sat on his shoulders.

"Here's the boy. I trust you have everything I asked for?" Barricade asked as he held Daniel aloft.

"Give the boy to me, Barricade," Ratchet instructed while popping open one of his doors.

"I think not. I'll put him here in this tree until the exchange is completed, just so I can keep an eye on him," Barricade said as he put Daniel down roughly on one of the dead tree's limbs, just next to the trunk. "Now, detach from your trailers and give me 10 meters of space." Optimus, Ironhide, and the soldiers did as demanded. Then the grey Decepticon transformed into a V-22 Osprey.

"How did you get to Earth without detection, Incinerator?" Ratchet asked.

"That's for me to know and you to wonder, Autoscum," the Osprey chuckled. Barricade pushed the trailer full of gasoline into Incinerator's cargo bay and then stepped away so Incinerator could take off. Then Barricade transformed into his car mode and sped down the highway while Incinerator used his electromagnetic grapple to pick up the trailer and flew off with it.

"Ironhide, get the boy out of the tree," Optimus instructed as he transformed. Before Ironhide could act upon his orders, there was a loud crash and Incinerator sped back into view without the trailer. The V-22 let loose with several shots from his rocket pods, which were situated under his wings in vehicle mode, destroying the trucks that Lennox and his men had come in.

"They figured it out!" Lennox said as he started to fire at Incinerator. "Epps! Blow it!"

"Burn, baby, burn," Epps said as he flicked the switch on a detonator that he had in hand. 250 grams of C4 stuck to the underside of the gas-filled trailer within Incinerator's cargo bay exploded, taking the 400 liters of gasoline with it. A massive fireball burst out of Incinerator's cargo bay, blowing the back ramp open. The grey Decepticon banked way and fled the scene as fast as he could, trailing smoke.

Meanwhile, Barricade came tearing back up the road and fired a plasma blast at the tree. Ironhide transformed and fired off a missile that went through the base of the tree, knocking it over so the plasma blast missed, and continued on to explode just in front of Barricade.

"Daniel!" Carly screamed as she kicked open Ratchet's passenger side door and ran for her son. Barricade transformed and jumped over the explosion from Ironhide's missile, then continued towards the fallen tree at a run, intent upon killing Daniel in revenge for being double-crossed. Dodging most of the incoming Autobot and human fire, he loomed over Daniel and Carly with his gyro-flails spinning and was about to slice them to bits when he suddenly fell over.

"What the pit!?" Barricade demanded, only to discover that the bolts connecting several key struts to his right foot had been removed. He roared in fury, but recognized that he was now outmaneuvered and outgunned, so he transformed back into his car mode and retreated.

"Would someone please explain what just happened?" Ironhide asked.

"I, uh, borrowed some tools," Stephen said as he popped out from behind the trunk of the fallen tree. "I spent one of my summers touring oil rigs with my Dad during high school and I got pretty handy with an impact wrench," He said hefting the tool in his hands.

"So that's where that got to," Ratchet mused.

"I'm pretty surprised that Decepticons use standard metric bits sizes, but I had to try something," Stephen shrugged.

"Well I think you were wonderful," Carly said as she gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool, Dad," Daniel was forced to admit.

"And your wife will never look at you like that," Epps quipped to Lennox, "Because you're not allowed to take her in the field with you."

"I know, I know. It sucks to do this for a living instead of just for fun," Lennox said with mock disappointment. "Optimus, can we hitch a ride with you guys?"

"Certainly, Captain Lennox," Optimus replied.

"It's going to be a squeeze," Ironhide muttered as he transformed back into vehicle mode.

* * *

When the Autobots and soldiers returned to the Witwicky farm, they noticed that a section was missing from the side of the barn. Bumblebee, Sam, Mikaela, Ron, Judy, and Sparkplug came out of the barn to see if everyone was alright. The sight of almost 2 dozen soldiers, Stephen, Carly, and Daniel spilling from Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Ratchet was quite like that of clowns getting out of a Volkswagen.

"Bumblebee, report," Optimus ordered after he transformed.

"…_Having a slight malfunction…Weapons misfire…_" Bumblebee quoted in response.

"What were you doing? Showing off?" Ratchet demanded before transforming and fixing Bumblebee with an icy glare. Bumblebee waved his hands in front of his face and pointed at Ron.

"Uhm, Will, thanks for letting us borrow the guns. There were very, reassuring," Ron said as he hastily handed his grenade launcher back to Lennox.

"Well, it's your property damage, if you don't want to tell me what happened, I'm not going to worry about it," Lennox said with a shrug.

"Oh, you're going to hear what happened," Judy said. "My genius husband was fiddling with the grenade launcher, looking for a safety switch or something, when some animal knocked over one of the old milk cans. Just about jumped out of his skin and pulled the trigger while he was at it. Did you know that those say-bo things will set wood on fire? Anyway, Bumblebee pulled the burning section off the barn and stamped out the fire."

"Yup, no more heavy weaponry for Buster," Sparkplug said as he handed back the second grenade launcher. Sam turned over the box of extra ammo.

"Excuse me," Carly spoke up over everyone else. "I'd just like to say thank you to all of you. Thank you so very much for saving my son."

"Yes. Thank you," Stephen agreed.

"Yeah, thanks," Daniel said hesitantly. He was extremely unsure of the friendliness of these unfamiliar giant robots. On the other hand, there was little way they could be worse than the two psychos he had spent the last couple of days with.

"You are welcome," Optimus said on behalf of the Autobots. "It is my hope that we can forge lasting bonds of friendship here on Earth despite, or perhaps because of, whatever harm the Decepticons attempt."

"Well, I'd say you're off to a pretty good start," Sparkplug replied.

"Oh, shit," Daniel said, suddenly remembering something. "I still have to do my homework! My teacher is never going to believe that I was abducted by aliens for the weekend, even if I do have a note from the Army!"


End file.
